Hi, Cecelia,
I am really blessed by your blog…
I recently got a rejection letter from a Christian publisher(who will remain nameless) for a manuscript query. Anyway, is it wise to submit a second query for a different story to the same publisher once you have submitted one that has gotten rejected in the past? Do publishers treat each query individually?
Signed,
A.P.
A.P., you most definitely should submit again! Publishers get so many submissions that they’ll barely remember you…seriously! If all writers stopped at one rejection, never submitting to that same publisher again, then it’d be safe to say that about half of the commercially published books in America would never exist in bookstores!
For both of the publishers that published my titles: Steeple Hill and Barbour, I submitted to these houses several times, over a period of YEARS before I was able to get an offer from them.
So, keep submitting to that publisher! Also, be sure your story fits with the stories that they’re publishing. Can you see your book as part of their line? It’s something else to think about. I know I’ve heard editors state at conferences that the number one reason they reject books is because people submit novels that don’t fit within their guidelines or their lines.
Also, don’t toss that manuscript yet! You need to go fishing…there just might be another publisher out there who thinks your story is perfect for their house! 🙂